1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to traveling vehicle systems including traveling vehicles and a controller to control the traveling vehicles and traveling control methods to control the traveling vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traveling vehicle systems which have been widely available in recent years include traveling vehicles and a controller. The traveling vehicles work as platforms for conveying articles, and the controller controls the traveling vehicles. In order to operate all the traveling vehicles, a traveling vehicle system needs to have the capacity of the power supply facility planned based on the total power consumed by all the traveling vehicles. Accordingly, the traveling vehicle system requires a power supply facility having a large capacity.
Thus, one of the conventional traveling vehicle systems involves storing regenerative electric power, which a decelerating traveling vehicle generates, in an auxiliary power source (See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-81219). This system utilizes the electricity stored in the auxiliary power source for less capacity of the power supply facility.
The conventional traveling vehicle system has a problem in that the regenerative electric power is not used effectively.
Specifically, before using the regenerative electric power, the conventional traveling vehicle system stores the electric power in the auxiliary power source and discharges the power. Such storing and discharging causes a loss of the power. Due to the power loss, all the electric power that the conventional system can utilize is the power remaining after the power has been lost from the generated regenerative electric power.